


fortune of the night

by takingbackmylife



Category: 9 to 5 the Musical - Parton/Resnick
Genre: F/F, Holiday, holigays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21862351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takingbackmylife/pseuds/takingbackmylife
Summary: Roommates? Check. Holiday season? Check. Kissing? Check.
Relationships: Judy Bernly/Violet Newstead
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	fortune of the night

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to @mattxvii for all their suggestions that helped move this fic along.
> 
> Happy holigays!

“Violet, no.”

“Judy, yes.” 

Judy sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears in a fit of frustration. 

“Violet, I’m not going to put you and Josh out like that. I will be perfectly fine in a hotel.” 

Violet scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

“Judes, no offense, but you’d go crazy in some random hotel. Besides, I don’t like the idea of you being on your own in a part of town you don’t know.”

Judy raised her eyebrows. “Vi, I’m not totally helpless.”

Judy could see Violet’s resolve falter a bit at that, which in theory was a victory, but it just made her feel guilty. 

“Come on Judes, that’s not what I meant.”

Judy sighed once more. She knew that’s not how she meant it. Her apartment building having a gas leak was becoming a real pain in her ass, and the crappy hotel on the complete other side of town that building management was offering to put everyone up in wasn’t exactly making the situation easier. 

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m just...frustrated. I didn’t even have time to grab so much as a toothbrush this morning when they started pounding on doors and kicking everyone out of the building. This whole situation is...less than ideal.”

Violet smiled at her sympathetically. “I know. But that’s why I’m trying to make it easier for you! Josh and I could use the company. Besides, Christmas is in two days and I’m definitely not letting you spend it alone in a hotel.”

Judy looked down at her feet. The thought of spending Christmas alone in a hotel _was_ depressing. 

“Are you sure? Like, really sure?”

Violet rose from her chair and came to stand beside Judy, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Kiddo, you’re making this a way bigger deal than it needs to be. We’re friends, and friends don’t let friends stay in shitty hotels and spend Christmas by themselves.”

Judy closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. _Friends._

She opened her eyes and smiled back at Violet.

“Okay, okay, you win. Thank you, Violet. Really.”

Violet squeezed her shoulder before returning back to her chair. 

“We’ll stop at the store on the way home tonight to get you some toiletries and whatever else you might need. Oh, and think about what you want to do for dinner.” 

\----

It was 5:08pm and Violet was about to take Judy Bernly home with her.

Not quite in the way she would have liked - not quite in the way she had been thinking about for months - but home with her nonetheless. 

“Hey, Vi. I’m ready to leave whenever, but take your time.”

Violet glanced up from her typewriter and saw Judy standing in front of her, pulling her hat over her ears and wrapping her scarf around her neck. She smiled when she realized it was the scarf she had given Judy for her birthday last month. She had felt bad about stealing her scarf when she first started - even if it _was_ a gift from her asshole ex-husband - so she had spent a good chunk of change on some cashmere nonsense that she had hoped Judy would like. 

She was happy to see that Judy was wearing the scarf, but she was more concerned with what she wanted to _do_ with the scarf (she wanted to grab it and use it to pull Judy towards her so she could kiss her and then push everything off her desk onto the floor and then-). 

Instead, she was taking her to buy toothpaste. 

“Sorry for the hold-up, Judes. I can finish this tomorrow, let’s get out of here."

\----

Judy wasn’t quite sure why the Chinese take-out she and Violet had picked up tasted ten times better than most Chinese take-out did, but she wasn’t complaining.

Okay, that was a lie. Her chicken lo mein tasted exactly like any other chicken lo mein she had ever eaten in her life - she was just enjoying it ten times more because she was eating it while sharing a blanket with Violet on her couch. 

It also didn’t hurt that Violet looked particularly adorable in the t-shirt and shorts she had swapped her suit for. 

It _also_ didn’t hurt that one of Violet’s legs kept slightly brushing against her calf. 

She took another bite of her lo mein and tried not to let her breath hitch at the contact.

“Do you want your fortune cookie?”

Violet tossed her the cookie without waiting for a response. Judy smiled as she tore apart the plastic. 

“Do you actually believe in this stuff?

Violet snorted. “Of course not. But I still wanna know what your fortune is.”

Judy rolled her eyes, but decided to humour her. She managed to maneuver the strip of paper out of the cookie without breaking it, placing it on her lap. 

“Okay, okay. Let me eat the cookie first.”

“What?! You read the fortune, then eat the cookie. That’s the rules.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

Violet’s hand darted out to reach for the fortune, and Judy laughed as their hands crashed together in her lap. Violet wasn’t moving her hand away despite her unsuccessful attempt to grab the paper before Judy, and she hoped her laughter was enough to distract Violet from the fact that her cheeks were most definitely turning red. 

“Nice try, but you weren’t fast enough.” 

“Oh please, I _let_ you beat me to it. Because I want you to read it.”

“Fine, fine. I will read my made-up fortune if it’s so important to you.”

Violet grinned triumphantly as Judy unfurled the crumpled piece of paper and read her fortune aloud.

_“The love of your life is right in front of your eyes.”_

For a second, Violet looked like she was going to be sick, but just as quickly, her face broke out into a grin. 

“Damn, Judes. I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about chicken lo mein.”

\----

The universe was definitely playing a sick joke on her.

As if the stupid fortune hadn’t been bad enough, Josh had called to say he was spending the night at Ryan’s, which meant that she officially had nothing to distract her from Judy being in her house. Nothing to distract her from Judy walking around in her old clothes that she had given her to sleep in. Nothing to distract her from how badly she wanted to grab the woman and kiss her. 

She didn’t know how long she could go on like this. As she placed an extra blanket on the bed in the guest room for Judy, she made a mental note to research how long it took for gas leaks to be fixed. 

\----

_“The love of your life is right in front of your eyes.”_

Judy groaned as she brushed her teeth. She could be superstitious, but she didn’t usually put much stock into fortune cookies of all things.

Even if the fortune was, much to her dismay, completely and hopelessly true.

\----

She could hear Judy washing up in the bathroom. They had said goodnight to each other already, but the thought of having to sleep a mere wall away from Judy all night had her wide awake.

Falling for her co-worker was the stupidest thing she had ever done. And falling for her _straight_ co-worker? Well, that was just icing on the cake.

She knew that this arrangement would be torturous for her, but she simply couldn’t bear the thought of Judy spending Christmas alone, especially since Violet had _wanted_ to invite her to spend Christmas with her weeks ago. Violet had casually asked her at lunch one day how she spends the holidays, and Judy had gone quiet and murmured something about how her parents take an annual trip and she has spent the past few years at Dick’s parents’ house. Violet had wanted to invite her to spend Christmas with her and Josh right then and there, but she was too chicken-shit so instead she just bit her tongue. 

As much as Violet didn’t want to say she was _happy_ that Judy’s apartment building had a hazardous gas leak, it was the closest she’d ever come to believing in Christmas miracles.

She heard Judy exit the bathroom and make her way to the guest room, heard the squeaks of the old mattress as Judy got into bed. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Torture.

\----

“Would you like another waffle?” 

“Hell yes.”

Judy laughed as she placed another waffle on Josh’s plate. 

“Can you stay here permanently? Mom thinks coffee is a suitable breakfast, and I’m too lazy to make anything other than cereal. We need you.” 

Judy smiled behind her coffee mug. She knew Josh was just being funny, but it still made her feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside to hear that she was _needed_.

Judy had barely slept the night before, and she had been restlessly tossing and turning when Josh was dropped off earlier that morning. Violet had still been in bed, and she figured if she was going to impose on their holiday, she could at least make herself useful and whip up some breakfast. 

“So, what do you and your mom usually do on Christmas Eve?”

“You’re looking at it.”

Judy raised an eyebrow.

“We stay in pajamas all day and just kind of sit around.”

“Oh! Well, staying in pajamas all day is always nice.”

Josh shrugged. “It’s alright. Christmas Eve used to be a big holiday when Dad was still alive, it was kind of his thing.” 

Judy instantly felt simultaneously stupid for bringing it up and guilty for inserting herself into their holiday. She tried to hide the guilt on her face, but Josh looked at her funny and gave her a lop-sided smile. 

“It’s cool that you’re here, you know. It’ll be good for Mom, I think. She talks about you a lot.”

“She- she does?”

Josh smirked. “Uh-huh. Probably more than she realizes. It’s kind of funny.”

Judy looked down at her plate and could feel her cheeks heating up. She was sure that Violet only talked about her a lot because she talked about work a lot, but she had butterflies in her stomach nonetheless. 

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Judy’s head snapped up at the sound of Violet’s voice. She was leaning against the doorway in a robe and slippers, with a look in her eyes that she couldn’t quite read. It sort of looked like she was about to cry.

“Oh, Violet! I hope I didn’t wake you, I had been trying to be really quiet but I couldn’t find the right-sized pan and then I dropped-”

Violet held up a hand. “How are you _apologizing_ for making breakfast?”

Judy blushed. “There’s waffles here for you, and plenty of coffee in the pot.”

Violet ruffled Josh’s hair as she walked by him towards the coffee pot, and Judy couldn’t help but smile. She loved seeing Violet like this. She had spent plenty of time with Violet outside of work - they left the office for lunch together every day, and would see the occasional movie together on the weekends - but seeing her at home, in her pajamas, casually chatting with her son felt intimate in a way that had Judy feeling a bit overwhelmed in the best way. 

It had been getting harder the past few months to ignore her growing feelings with Violet, and it certainly wouldn’t be getting any easier today.

\----

Violet was overwhelmed. 

When she had seen the guest bedroom door ajar that morning, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she went downstairs to find Judy, but she certainly hadn’t been expecting to find her very moody teenage son laughing and smiling with her very dreamy co-worker.

Christmas Eve was hard for her, but it was harder for Josh. Christmas Eve had been Will’s forte - every year he and Josh cooked a huge dinner for the three of them with all the works. Violet was always working all day, so she would come home to the smell of ham and stuffing and macaroni and cheese and yams and the table already set. 

Since he died, Violet made sure she always had off of work on Christmas Eve. But her and Josh hadn’t really been able to bring themselves to actually _do_ anything on Christmas Eve; they usually just watched bad TV and tried to ignore the air of sadness in the house. So seeing Josh _smiling_ on Christmas Eve? Because of Judy? It made her want to fucking cry and also kiss Judy more than she had ever wanted to before. 

Violet sat down next to Judy and watched as Judy placed a waffle on the plate in front of her. Judy smiled shyly at her, and if Josh hadn’t been sitting across from them, she may have just said fuck it and leaned in and kissed her right then and there.

Instead, she took a bite of her waffle.

\----

Judy, Josh, and Violet were all squished together on the small couch in the living room. Violet was in the middle, and Judy’s skin was singing at the contact. She was nearly sitting in Violet’s lap (the couch was only meant for two people) and her heart was beating so exceptionally fast, she swore Violet and Josh must be able to hear it.

They were watching some low-budget game show, and Violet were cracking up at the host’s antics. It was nice seeing Violet so...care-free.

They spent the next few hours half-watching crappy television and playing card games. They played Crazy Eights, Go Fish, and even some Poker, and Judy honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much _fun_. 

She and Dick had never really had days like this where they just...enjoyed each other’s company. Their courtship was short and even once they were married, Dick always spent so much more time with his “buddies” than he ever spent with her. Judy tried not to think about how many of those “drinks with the guys” were really rendevouz with Mindi.

Judy looked up from the cards she held in front of her face and caught Violet staring at her. She bit her lip and smiled, and Violet grinned back at her. Josh cleared his throat.

“Mom, it’s your turn.” 

Violet snapped out of it and placed a card down. Judy pretended to study her stack of cards intently, but she was really just trying to distract herself from the thought that hadn’t stopped running through her mind all day. 

_I’ve never been this happy in my entire life._

\----

Violet groaned in frustration as she realized she hadn’t cut enough wrapping paper.

She grabbed the roll and began unfurling the paper once more. She could hear Judy and Josh in the kitchen finishing up a batch of cookies that they had spontaneously decided to bake. She could hear Josh laughing and it made her eyes well up.

It had been years since he’d laughed like that on Christmas Eve.

Violet wiped her eyes and forced herself to refocus on wrapping Judy’s gift. 

\----

Judy was sitting on the bed in the guest room combing her hair. Her ears perked up when she heard the door to Violet’s bedroom open, and she silently chastised herself for how badly she yearned for Violet to walk into her room.

She heard Violet go down the stairs, and her heart sank a bit. 

Judy couldn’t stop thinking about how absolutely perfect the day had been. She felt like she belonged in a way that she never had in her entire life. She felt _love_ in a way she had never felt in her entire life - love for Josh and his jokes and sarcasm, love for Violet and her kindness towards her. 

Not just love. _In_ love.

In what she was sure was a severe lapse in judgement, Judy got up and headed towards the stairs.

\----

Violet was placing the wrapped gift under the tree when she felt eyes on her. She turned around and saw Judy standing at the bottom of the staircase. Violet tried to nonchalantly push the present towards the back of the tree as she cleared her throat.

“Uh, hey, Judes. Did you need some water or something?”

Judy shook her head. “No. I’m not really sure what I need.”

Violet raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?”

Judy was shaking, just a tiny bit, and it made Violet nervous. 

“Oh, nothing. I was just feeling a bit restless.”

Violet nodded, not wanting to pry too much and scare Judy into going back upstairs. She tried not to think too much about how simply _seeing_ Judy made her heart skip a beat. 

“So, are you peeking at your presents?”

Violet laughed. “No, no. Just had to add one more to the pile.”

Judy walked over to where Violet was sitting on the floor and knelt beside her. She saw Judy smile - she looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. “It has my name on it.”

Violet looked down. “Well, yeah. What, did you think I wouldn’t get you something?”

Judy hugged her knees to her chest. “You didn’t have to.”

Violet took a deep breath, trying to decide what she should and shouldn’t say right now. She cautiously reached out a hand and placed it on Judy’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Judes, you’re one of the most important people in my life. I care about you....a lot. Of course I got you something for Christmas.”

Judy looked up at her, tears shining in her eyes. 

“Can I open it now?”

Violet’s heart started beating faster. She hadn’t been prepared to do this _now_. 

“That’s kind of breaking the rules, you know.”

Judy pouted. “Pretty please?”

_Well, the fuck if I can so no to that face._

“Okay, okay. You may proceed.”

Judy smiled and reached for the gift, carefully pulling the ribbon off before tearing into the paper. She heard her suck in a breath as she opened it. 

“Violet...is this…?”

Violet smiled softly. “Your first project proposal that you submitted and got approved all by yourself.”

Violet paused for a moment, and then added, “I was so proud of you. Still am.”

Judy ran her fingertips along the gold frame that Violet had custom-made to fit the document. Violet was acutely aware of the fact that her hand was still on Judy’s knee. 

She knew she should probably move it. 

But she really, _really_ didn’t want to. 

Instead, she took her other hand and reached for Judy’s, running her fingers along her knuckles before she could think about it too much.

Judy looked at her and Violet stared right back. Judy was crying a little and Violet desperately searched her eyes, trying to see, _hoping_ to see, a sign that she was maybe, possibly feeling the same way that Violet was feeling right now. 

She wanted to kiss her so badly.

“Uhhhhh, are you guys okay?”

_Son of a bitch_.

\----

Judy was staring at the ceiling. 

She was also crying, but she was trying to ignore that.

It had been the closest she’d ever come to kissing Violet. She’d _wanted_ to kiss her plenty of times. But if Josh hadn’t walked downstairs to get a cookie, she truly might have done it. 

She rolled over, switching from staring at the ceiling to staring at the wall. She couldn’t stop replaying it in her head. She was so sure that for a split second, she and Violet were on the same page. So sure that Violet would have kissed her back.

But now she was alone again - alone with her thoughts, with her doubt, with her fear, with her guilt. 

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard Violet get out of bed and walk towards the guest room. She didn’t notice until she was knocking on the door, making Judy jump. 

“Hey, Judes, can I come in?”

“Um, yes!”

She watched as the door opened and Violet came to sit on the edge of the bed. Judy sat up and waited for Violet to start talking.

“I just wanted to thank you.”

She saw that Violet’s hand was trembling a bit, and she resisted the urge to reach for it.

“For what?”

“For everything. The holidays aren’t easy for me and Josh, and you made today really special for us. For me.”

Judy looked down. “Oh, I didn’t really do anything.”

She felt Violet’s hand on her chin, coaxing her to look up. If her heart hadn’t already been beating so quickly, it certainly would have been now.

“Yeah, you did,” whispered Violet. “You’ve done so much.”

Judy stared at Violet. She was feeling it again - the feeling that they were maybe, possibly on the same page. 

She leaned forward before the feeling could disappear again.

\----

It was better than she ever could have imagined.

Judy kissed her and she felt everything click into place. She was suddenly living in a world again where songs made sense and fortunes from artificial cookies came true. 

Her hands cupped Judy’s cheeks, pulling her face as close to hers as she possibly could. She kissed Judy back with everything she was worth, gently running her tongue along Judy’s bottom lip and relishing in the sound of the small moan it elicited from Judy. 

She pulled back for a moment so she could look at Judy. She saw everything she was feeling reflected in Judy’s own eyes, and it gave her the assurance she needed to say what she’d been wanting to say all day. For months, really. 

“I love you.”

Judy crumpled, which made Violet panic for half a second, but then Judy was throwing her arms around her and burying her face into her neck. Violet’s hands immediately wrapped around her, rubbing circles across her back as she peppered her cheek with kisses.

“You crying?”

Judy sniffled and nodded against her neck. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

Judy looked up at her. “Yes. I’m just a little overwhelmed because I had accepted that I was going to be secretly in love with you forever.”

Violet’s heart soared. _In love_. 

“Well, ditto. But now we both know and we can finally do this.”

She leaned in to kiss her again.

\----

She was lying in Violet’s bed. Not staring at the wall, or the ceiling. Not crying. 

Violet had pulled her into her room, and now she was in Violet’s arms, watching as Violet kissed her way down her neck, pausing at her collarbone and nibbling slightly. Her breath hitched, and she felt Violet grin against her skin. 

“Have I mentioned how hot it is seeing you wearing my clothes?”

Judy felt her face flush. She pulled Violet’s face back up to meet her lips. She couldn’t get enough of the feeling of how _soft_ they were. How did she wait this long to start kissing women? To start kissing _Violet_?

Violet’s hands were under her shirt and skimming across her stomach. She saw Violet smirk when she realized she wasn’t wearing a bra, which naturally made Judy blush even more than she already had been.

“Just tell me if you want me to stop,” Violet murmured as one hand ghosted across the bottom of Judy’s breasts.

Judy shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do, um, everything tonight. But this...yes. This I can do.”

Violet lifted Judy’s shirt up, helping her sit up so she could slide it over her head. She gently helped Judy lay back down, straddling Judy’s hips as her attention returned to her breasts.

“This okay?”

Judy bit her lip. “Very much so.”

\----

Violet was lavishing Judy’s nipple with her tongue while Judy writhed and moaned beneath her. She knew this was as far as they would be going tonight, and it was everything. Seeing Judy’s eyes flutter shut in pleasure? Feeling Judy beneath her? _Being in bed with Judy_? It was everything she could ever need.

The grandfather clock in the living room downstairs struck midnight, drawing Violet’s attention away from Judy’s chest for a moment. She moved up towards Judy’s face, kissing her softly.

“Merry Christmas, Judes.”

Judy hugged her close and kissed her cheek. “I love you. Merry Christmas, Violet.”

_“The love of your life is right in front of your eyes.”_

Merry Christmas, indeed.


End file.
